


Leave Behind Your Heartache

by thescyfychannel



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Challenge for the Crown, Coup d'état, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Quadrant Vacillation, Rebellion, Rebellionstuck, Sparring, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-24
Updated: 2019-05-24
Packaged: 2020-03-13 21:50:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18949342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thescyfychannel/pseuds/thescyfychannel
Summary: It's kind of nice to have quads who will literally bend space and time to get you back alive.





	Leave Behind Your Heartache

**Author's Note:**

  * For [inkp0p](https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkp0p/gifts).



> "what do we say to the god of death not today etc etc etc
> 
> feferi peixes lost her dual with her ancestor and died.
> 
> that is until her stupit girlfriend and boyfriend got involved.
> 
> aradia, using time bull shit, & sollux, managed to bring things back to ~1 week before their shared girlfriend got noscoped in a bid for the crown. what are they all gonna do about it???????  
> (eridan can be there too if you would like)"
> 
>  
> 
> the answer is probably "cry and then fight and then maybe actually work things out"

You stare into Sollux's mismatched eyes across the pool of candlelight and think that this might be something of a moment if it weren't for the fact that you're dead. 

Behind you is Aradia, and her eyes are like rubies now, filled with the hue shift that follows all trolls into adulthood. They're both beautiful, you think, and more so now that you can see them like this, every line and fine tuned point of power in their bodies on display to your ghostly eyes. They are exceedingly lovely, they are wonderful, they are so many kinds of perfect, and you can see the desperation and fear in all the instances of them they have on offer—

Your name is Feferi Peixes, and you lost your Ancestor's challenge.

 

* * *

 

Your name is Feferi Peixes and you have one more week until you challenge for the crown.

Literally exactly one week, actually—it's hard not to be painfully aware of the seconds ticking to minutes ticking away hours, time coming on faster than it ever has. Every member of your sort of extended clade (would it be wrong to call it a friendgroup? You know it's not really a _thing_  on Alternia, but maybe you think it could be somenight) has taken time out of their own schedule to aid in your training, save for two.

Two of your very beloved matesprits have, up until this point, seemed very wary about stepping into any kind of sparring ring with you, despite all of the pleading and encouraging Eridan—who'd...really gotten better about so much ship, and kind of come out of his weird, hand-built shell of awkwardness and being kind of a glubbing dick—had put into getting them there.

Of course you assumed they wouldn't get involved at all, at this point. One week to go! They'd had plenty of time to join in on the "fun" and if they hadn't up until this point, it seemed highly unlikely that they ever would or ever were, which was why you had been _so_  surprised when they'd showed up this evening at your door and _insisted_  on taking you out to train. Right away, now, ASAP!

 

You're pretty glubbing shore that something fishy is _up_.

 

* * *

 

"Right then, Sol, you start out here—" Eridan's marking out places and paces as your eyes narrow on Aradia. She's wearing her older clothes, a frayed skirt that usually only ventures out on archaeological digs, and she keeps rubbing the edge of it between her fingers, like she's planning to tease the weave apart. You've rarely seen her so stressed before, and it's very easy to decide that you absolutely do not _like_  seeing her this on edge.

If something's up, as a good matesprit, you obviously need to know!

Besides, Eridan and Sollux have started bickering, which means that you've got a little time to go before the match actually begins.

Time to put your main weapons on display: Instead of actually scooting into her space slowly, you drop right down onto Aradia's lap. Her reaction to this is, as ever, incredibly cute. First she goes all flustered and red, _then_  her arms wrap around you, and _then_  she presses a kiss to your shoulder, or cheek, or fin, wherever is easiest for her to reach. "Hello, Feferi!"

"Whale hey there, Aradia!" You shift around in her lap, getting yourself comfy and _conveniently_  pressing your rumblespheres all up in her grill. You know what a gill likes! Judging by the little pop-fizzle of psionics that accompany your efforts, the gill dolphinately likes this. "You and Sollux seem kind of down. Want to fill me in on what's up?"

Now all the adorabubble flush and fluster is somehow suddenly gone. Aradia clams up immediately, so quick that you have to chalk _another_  suspicious thing down on your rapidly growing mental list. It kind of sucks, being so aware of what's up with your friends and also having absolutely no avenue of attack that won't freak them out. "I promise you that we're alright, Feferi. Really!"

"Uhhhhh huh." You could let her know that you're still suspicious, or you could go the route of being _so_  reassured and make sure that she's off guard, when you go to interrogate the next weakest link. Actually. No. Sollux _is_  easier to crack than Aradia, and you really should have started there. Glubbing hindsight and all of that. "Let me know if there's anyfin I can do, though, okay? I really hate seeing you guys shoal sad!"

This might have been the wrong thing to say, because Aradia goes from clammed to tense, all in one flash of a moment. "It's hard _not_  to be shoal sad when you—"

"When I what, Aradia," you say, and it's your turn to sound a bit snapping turtle-ish, because so far _everyone_  has been doing a good job of not making this whole challenge thing about their own grief. You get it! It sucks for everyone! But it kind of sucks especially for you because you're the one who's going to _die_  if things get too screwed up for their own good. "Come on. If you're thinking it, you might as well say it, right? Go ahead."

"No," she says, at the same time that Eridan hollers for you to get into the sparring ring.

Fine then. If she's going to be that way, she's going to be that way. You have other, better things to do.

Like kicking all the answers you could possibly need out of Sollux's bony ass. That. _That_  is a much better thing to do.

 

* * *

 

Sollux is wrapping his hands and wrists when you step into the circle, and you get a moment of being taken aback because wow _hot_. While you (and Aradia, and apparently also Eridan) are well aware of how _attractive_  Sollux can be, this is its own kind of thing. You don't usually get to see him in the context of gearing up to throw down, as much as it might be the natural habitat of his powers, so any time he does anything remotely related to a battle, or a spar (which, well, _everyone_  knows seadwellers are really into), it gets to you, just a little bit.

Or a lot of bit, like it is in this case, because you're so caught up in how exceedingly _attractive_ Sollux is that you don't even notice when Eridan's called for a start.

 

You're immediately airborne, Sollux picking up speed as he moves across the space until he crashes into you and sends you flying. Lucky hit for him, not so lucky a situation for you, but it doesn't take long to bounce off the walls and have another go at him again, getting one hand around an entire scrawny ankle and _yanking_  him back down to earth.

It's one of those rare moments where surprise trumps psionics, and he lands hard, a midair twist all that comes between the ground and his back.

Your guilt only lasts as long as it takes for him to hit you with an arc of pure power, then you're snarling at him, fins wide and still crackling with the traces of leftover psionics. When you round on him, fangs bared in a snarl, you expect him to look smug, amused, pleased—not grim. You did not expect him to look determined and grim.

As ready as he is to take advantage of your confusion, you've already sunk into working on instinct, and his next few attacks you block and parry on that alone. What's going on? Where did your Sollux go? A brief reprieve comes when you send him flying towards a wall and he stops himself just in time, pausing to catch a breath. You take the opportunity to look at Aradia, a question rising on your lips that dies as soon as you see the same steady, fear-driven determination in her eyes.

Something has happened. Something is wrong.

 

Sollux slams into you, lightning, power, and a psionic current so strong it sends you reeling. You think—you're not sure—that the onrushing black is what pulled you into a very suddenly unconscious state, but really, there's no way to be sure.

 

* * *

 

Your name is Aradia Megido and you're going to lose your goddamn mind.

This isn't the first time Feferi's gotten knocked out during a spar! You are well aware of that, even as you are two seconds away from losing your shit. It _is_  the first time you've seen Feferi go down like that since the duel-that-wasn't, though, and in your opinion, your a little bit entitled to going kind of nuts!

Fortunately, you do not go _totally_  nuts, because if you had, you would've yeeted Sollux into the stratosphere, and while encroaching on Eridan's pitch territory was heavily encouraged by everyone in your semi-clade, it would be highly unproductive at this juncture.

Probably.

So! Sollux remains un-yeeted, and Feferi is now in your arms, and Eridan is looking like he's shown up with fins to a psionic fight, which, whoops, he definitely has.

"AA, she's _fine_ ," Sollux says, sparks dancing at the corners of his eyes. "Wake her up and let her go. We need to get back to work."

"Are you kidding me? This isn't going to do _anything_  to help!"

"She needs to _learn_ ," he insists, and before you can fire off a retort, a cold shadow looms over you.

Eridan Ampora has grown up—and out, as well, broadening in the shoulders in a very attractive way—and you are keenly aware of that with him standing above you. "What the two of you need," he says, in a voice that rings like low bells and quiet death, "is to explain to me exactly what the fuck is going on."

So you do.

 

* * *

 

Eridan takes the news...surprisingly well, given everything you know about him. You feel like you've unlocked secret lore, or maybe even leveled up your skill in diplomacy? Or maybe he's leveled his, it could go either way, and you're actually the one telling him the lore, so...huh. Maybe your metaphors are getting a little too muddled to actually be effective.

Right, okay, so. You sit Eridan down, ready to walk him through this process slowly, explain that Feferi Died and also We Dealt With It By Going Back In Time, and you wait for him to freak out, and...he doesn't.

"Okay," he says, and his fins do a little flick. "That explains things."

You look at Sollux. Sollux looks at you. That's...it? Is that it? "Uh—"

"Look," he tells you, "Fef and I went into this knowin the possibilities from the start. Eyes completely open. We're both aware of the dangers an the risks, an...it's not that I'm not upset by the news. I'm just, y'know. Disappointed that I failed her, but I'm not surprised that she might've died."

"You _didn't_  fail her," Sollux snaps, and you blink—the pitch thing burns brighter, sometimes. "We all did, and also, anyway, you haven't even hypothetically failed her yet."

It's probably time for you to cut in and drop the bomb you've been saving for the right time. "Also, the Condesce cheated, and you guys need to stop with the guilt and self-recrimination, like, _now_."

"She _what_." It's their turn to be in perfect synch. You're ready to explain everything to her, but neither Eridan nor Sollux quite seem to be, so you draw her attention over, one hand careful in her hair.

"Good evening, sleepyhorns!"

Feferi groans, pulling herself up to sitting and rubbing her presumably aching fins. "Holy shell, if I'd _known_  we were going no holds barred...anymoby want to explain exactly what that awl was?"

"We'll get into it later," you assure her, and help her back up to her feet. "In the meantime, I think maybe you and I _otter_  go get something to eat."

"Good call," Eridan says, at the same time Sollux tries to cut him off. "Sol, c'mon."

If they actually manage to pull off their pitch thanks to your timely intervention, you are going to be so smug for so long. As Eridan hauls Sollux off in the opposite direction, you and Feferi trade a knowing look and set off towards the mealblock.

 

* * *

 

"So whatever is up that you guys aren't telling me, I'm guessing Eridan just landed glutes deep in it?"

People don't always give your matesprit enough credit for her powers of observation. It's a fatal mistake, in your opinion, and one that you were _so sure_  you were being careful not to make. "Uh...kind of, yes. It was that or we might've murdered Sollux, a little bit."

" _We_?"

"He _did_  go from zero to two hundred with no warning," you inform her, waving your tree sap glazed root vegetable at her. Usually you wouldn't dare, for fear of the stickiness, but using the four-pronged eating device was a lot less messy than cooking up a whole batch and eating them with your hands before they'd even properly cooled, like you and Tavros used to do. "So yes! I was a little bit peeved."

"A little bit peeved."

"You know, if you're planning on repeating things I say back to me all night, I'm going to go get some saltwater taffy and gum up your fangs.

Feferi sighs, setting her own meal devices down. "Sorry. I'm just...whale, kinda feeling caught in a rip current? Like everything's happening awl around me but no one's telling me what it is."

Guilt prickles down your spine, and you set down your own food. "Shell you what, we'll go track down Sollux, and presumably Eridan, if they're still, ah, _attached_ , and get everything sorted out. You should— _shoald_ —know. Consequences be damned!"

"Consequences be damned!" The wicked glint in Feferi's eye has you flicking sweet tree sap at her and she laughs as she tries to block it with her round baked grain product. In your opinion, it's not exactly a bad way for things to come to an end.

 

* * *

 

Your name is Sollux Captor and apparently life or death situations are _really_  good for the affirmation of mutually quadrantal feelings.

Actually, you and Eridan have been dancing around this point for so long that you're not _entirely_  surprised that what happened to Feferi is what actually brought it on. You still can't quite bring yourself to even think the words, like you, in particular, are the jinx that will make them true.

By mutual agreement, the two of you help each other dress in silence, then set out to find Feferi. Whatever reservations he and you had are gone—she needs to know exactly what happened, and she needs to know _now_.

 

* * *

 

Aradia is brushing Feferi's hair, a task that only the bravest dare attempt (and same goes for AA's hair, you're pretty sure it _eats_  hair preparation whisks), when the two of you stroll in, acting as if you haven't been up to exactly what you know they know you were up to.

It fails completely, because there is _promptly_  a waggling of eyebrows and an exchanging of looks.

"Look, it's not like you two—okay, shut it AA, be _serious_."

Eridan elbows you in the side, grinning, and hops up onto Feferi's appearance preparation platform. "Go on, then, Sol, show us how to be _serious_."

Because you are not to be outdone in any capacity whatsoever, you immediately flip him off and float yourself cross-legged into the air. "Did you tell her yet? Or were you waiting for us, because if it's option number two, I'm going to have to go on and on about how sappy and sweet it is that you'd want us to all be gathered together for such a momentous delivery of news—"

"I didn't tell her, so feel free!"

 _Ah_ , says your brain, _shit_.

Part of you—a very large and cowardly part—was hoping that the hard part was already over. That someone _else_  had informed Feferi of her future doom, that it was no longer down to you to deliver the final sentence of her fate. Aradia, after all, was just as much a herald of what had come or what would pass as you were. Sort of. You guys went at it in _very_  different ways.

"If it's about the slow burning pitchmance, I'm pretty shore the purrbeast is out of the bag!"

"Fef," Eridan says, and it's not the first time you wonder at the tone of it. The depth of their...whatever it is, it's similar to the depth of your whatever it is with AA. They go back. Way back. So do you, of course, but seadwellers and their weird fucky quasi-religious shit, you never really know what's up. Case in point: Her fins tip down, and she looks up at Eridan, waiting. "Right. Uh—"

"You died," you say, blurting it out because you have no other fucking clue on how to handle yourself than this, one moment of panic and pandemonium at a fucking time. "You died in the challenge and AA and I went back in time because _fuck that_."

"Oh," Feferi says, and for a moment—one wonderful, perfect moment—you think she's going to take it as well as Eridan.

Then she takes a shaky breath and the tears start to flow.

 

Turns out, holding the hope of an _entire godsdamn rebellion_  on your scrawny tyrian shoulders could be kind of an emotional burden. Whoda thunk.

 

* * *

 

To your relief (and guilt), the crying doesn't last very long. Feferi's back to herself again in minutes, before you guys can really get into the actual comforting aspect of the whole situation, and the first thing she wants to do is dissect absolutely everything that happened and discuss a change in her battle strategy. The only sign that she might _not_  be completely okay is the way she refuses to let go of your hand—or when she has to, the way her leg is pressed against yours, always maintaining at least one point of contact. 

 

The first thing that you and Aradia explain is that the Condesce cheated, and exactly when and how she did. Your assumption is that she'll do so, and then try again, but Feferi—apparently, Feferi has a plan for that.

"You're not going to like it much," she says, her expression grim, "but it _is_  going to work."

You leave it at that. You're not sure you _do_  want to know.

Next is her fighting style. What you have left of the week might not actually be enough time to teach her everything that the two of you know, but it's enough to give her a grasp on the basics, and more than that, it's enough to give her a decent _start_. You're not sure that it is, but you're learning to hope (and maybe even _trust_ ) that it will be enough.

And beyond that, well.

Between you and Aradia and Eridan as well, you know exactly how many volts it takes to fry a full grown seadweller, the ability to deliver on that number, and absolutely no qualms about breaking the laws of seadweller tradition.

It takes all of one night for you to _actually_  start feeling better about FF's prospects. You...you think maybe, the first time around, you'd gotten so caught up in fear and worrying that you'd forgotten exactly how good she is at what she does when she really decides to do it. Same goes for all of the rest of you, sentimental as it might seem to say you're including everyone here. Maybe it's possible. Maybe it'll work. Maybe you can do this.

 

* * *

 

Your name is Eridan Ampora and the moment that crown lands on your heiress' head, something in you _soars_.


End file.
